Shot Placement

[Huntschool]

Since I started shooting ML's (over 50 years ago) its been neck shots and I have no complaints. However, I have taken heart and lung shots out of necessity and they worked also. A .535 RB in front of 110 gr of 3fffg GOEX will do a heck of a job when hitting ether spot.

JMHO

 

[bud in pa]

I take whatever vital target is presented to me.

 

[smo]

Another vote for letting the air out of them... they wont go far.

 

[Penny B]

First deer I killed with a ML was a doe I shot in what I call high shoulder. She dropped DRT. Since I have killed many and used all the spots outlined above. For me the high shoulder is always the quickest.

 

[shane a gress]

First deer I killed with a ML was a doe I shot in what I call high shoulder. She dropped DRT. Since I have killed many and used all the spots outlined above. For me the high shoulder is always the quickest.

So....why does this shot work. My shoulder shot do the same.

 

[hanshi]

I'm guessing that the high shoulder shot breaks the spine.

 

[Walkingeagle]

I'm guessing that the high shoulder shot breaks the spine.

Or shocks it.
Walk

 

[SDSmlf]

I'm guessing that the high shoulder shot breaks the spine.

Also knocks the front end out of alignment. Preferred shot if I don’t want them to run even a few steps. Hunt in a couple of spots with rough hilly terrain. A twenty or thirty yard dash could mean an all day recovery effort.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Yeah one of the guys on the forum a few years back took only shoulder shots, and I think they were quartering toward him. With the patched round ball it either hits the spine or internally bounced off the shoulder and into the spine. The first and only one I've tried so far dropped where it was standing. All of his did the same.


LD

 

[shane a gress]

I did a search while eating supper tonight, one shot kills. A bullet in the high shoulder hits the brachial plexus. It's the shock and awe for whitetail. Very interesting info for hunters.

 

[twobarrel]

This post makes one wonder if the longhunters used these shot placements back in the day. One would think that they didn't want holes in the hides.

 

[Logcutter]

Heart and lung area. Farthest any of them has went was 60 yards or so. Haven't tracked a wounded deer in many years.

 

[SDSmlf]

Hunt in the mountains with 1800 feet of elevation change on the property. A few years ago one of our ‘heart lung’ guys popped a nice buck late in the day. It maybe ran 30 yards. Then it slid ‘down hill’ somewhere around 150 to 200 feet. He had no idea how to retrieve it. He was sure it was down, but couldn’t put eyes on it before it got dark. ‘Search team’ located the deer about 10 AM the next morning. A club member spotted it hung up in some rhododendrons. He got within 50 yards or so, but couldn’t easily get closer to the deer. The shooter got to the deer about 2PM. His first comment was it was a perfect double lung shot. Short story, the deer arrived at the cabin about 5PM. Tried to save the the back straps, but even they had turned according to those present. North Carolina, near 80°...... about 24 hours since shot. Surprise surprise. A perfect double lung shot that wasted no meat..... Oh, need to add, this hunter would ride others who is his opinion ‘ruined’ any meat with their shots. It was made clear to him he was on his own in the future. He hunted one more year with us then vanished.

 

[renegadehunter]

I'm a lung shooter but normally hold between C and D. Just under halfway up. I rarely find the heart hit when I gut them out, and if it has been hit it was because I misjudged the drop or pulled the shot a bit. Probably the archer in me, as getting both lungs with an arrow has given me excellent results time and again. Quartering away I just hold back on the ribs where I need to to get it to go through the vitals, I don't try to line up with the offside leg normally because if it is way forward or back it can give a poor angle and in the excitement of the moment it can be something a person forgets to check on. To me it is quicker/easier to just "see" where the hold needs to be so it goes through the center of the lung area. Quartering to shots are really the same, I just hold where I need to so the projectile goes through the center of the lung area. I normally won't take a straight on shot, as I hate turning the stomach contents into soup and a liquefied mess when gutting them. Straight away I will only take if they are looking back and I'm confident I can hit the neck, such as I have a rest or it is a pretty close shot.

SDSmlf, I've encountered a handful of people that shot animals without thinking about the terrain or where they were. Some of them were a true "you're only getting to eat that if you take a lighter, fork, and knife with you and eat it on the spot". Normally the only true chance at salvaging the meat is to bone it out as soon as you can get to the animal, but few seem to be willing to go that route and rarely have a pack frame to carry it out.

 

[Elkeater]

He got within 50 yards or so, but couldn’t easily get closer to the deer..

Who told him it was gonna be easy?

 

[hanshi]

Deer seem to do what deer seem to do. I've had quite a few DRTs from heart/lung hits and 100% DRTs from neck hits. Mostly this was with my .45 but also many with .50, .54 and .62.

 

[SDSmlf]

Who told him it was gonna be easy?

That was one of the guys helping to ‘find’ the deer. Took another four hours (including a lunch break) for the shooter to actually get hands on the deer. Didn’t want a real rescue event so everyone had to be careful. Guys got as close as possible with an ATV and used it’s winch (with a couple lengths of extra rope) to haul it up out of the ravine. Snagged every limb, rock, root and shrub on the way up. The guy was a real jerk about riding everyone about their shot placement and how they wasted meat. He thought he took a perfect double lung shot on this deer and the bullet didn’t destroy any meet. Didn’t matter to him that the deer was ‘slow roasted’ in the Carolina sun for 24 hours and basically a total waste. Shot placement was the most important thing to him. He was a fantastic target shooter. That nobody cared to hunt with.

 

[Flintlock62]

It all depends what weapon I have in my hands, if archery hunting I go for a double lung shot. I try to stay away from the shoulder so unless really close 20 yards or closer I take a lung shot. Even though my bow and arrow setup is good for 335 FPS.

Now if hunting with my 62 rifled Flintlock or a rifle it depends on what is available, however 95 % of the time I try for a heart & lung shot....

Shoot straight!!!!

 

[Skychief]

So, you guys aim at a certain part of a deer??

 

[SDSmlf]

So, you guys aim at a certain part of a deer??

Imagine a soccer ball on top of and just behind the front legs of a deer. Poke a hole through that soccer ball from any angle and that deer will be on the ground in 10 - 15 seconds within 100 yards of where you shot it.